TIIEIK GEOLOGICAL AGE. 18!) 



siderably less perfect, has been acquired, by the indefatigable 

 energy of Dr. Kaup, for the Museum at Darmstadt. It is of 

 importance to geologists to have pointed out to them the 

 characters of the remains that are most frequently encoun- 

 tered, and which are of the readiest application and of most 

 significance in the distinction of the species. Hence the 

 undue proportion in which I have directed attention to the 

 dental character of the fossil Elephants in the present com- 

 munication. 



I shall now proceed to the consideration of the bearing of 

 these fossil Elephants, regarded as distinct species, upon the 

 classification of the newer tertiary strata. 



There is probably no locality in Europe so favourably situ- 

 ated for the investigation of the mammalian fauna of the 

 Pliocene period as the district of the Val d'Arno, in Tuscany. 

 Above the gorge of Incisa, the valley gradually expands on 

 to Arezzo, a distance of upwards of twenty miles, forming an 

 extensive area, which was evidently in former times occu- 

 pied by a large lake. In the lacustrine deposit, and in the 

 low hills which immediately surround it, the remains of a 

 great Pliocene fauna are met with in immense abundance, 

 and, regarded as a whole, in a better state of preservation, 

 for the same number of species, than has as yet been dis- 

 covered anywhere else in Europe, comprising species of 

 Mastodon, Elephas, Ehinoceros, Tapirus, Equus, Hippopo- 

 tamus, Sus, Eelis, Machairodus, Hysena, Bos, Cervus, Anti- 

 lope, Lagomys, and other small mammalia. Besides in- 

 numerable remains of Hippopotamus, entire skeletons and 

 crania of all ages of the Yal d'Arno Elephant, and skeletons 

 of Tetralophodon Arvernensis, have been met with, presenting 

 the most ample materials for the establishment and distinc- 

 tion of the various forms. Another circumstance, especially 

 favourable to the study of the Yal d'Arno fauna as a Pliocene 

 association, is that, according to my observation, it is entirely 

 free from any admixture of the characteristic forms of the 

 Post-Pliocene glacial fauna, such as the true Mammoth, the 

 Siberian Ehinoceros, the Elasmotheriuin, and their Arctic 

 associates. The Tuscan fossil fauna has been cursorily or 

 partially examined or gleaned from by Cuvier, De Blainville, 

 Nesti, and others ; but, unfortunately for science, it has not 

 yet been taken up as a whole, although the Grand Ducal 

 Museum at Florence contains a collection which might form 

 the subject of one of the most splendid and important mono- 

 graphs that has yet been produced on extinct mammalia. 

 This is the more to be regretted, as the perfect condition of 

 the Tuscan fossils would have prevented a great deal of the 

 confusion which has arisen from the imperfect and uncertain 



